Matthew Gates https://notetoservices.com 8m 2,104 #humangreed
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
The Cause of Our Own Downfall
The Modern Downfall of Civilization
Civilization may thrive for thousands of years, but history has been seen only to repeat itself. Every. Single. Time. Without failure. Studying all forms of history in every culture, from the Ancient Assyrians, to the Ancient Persians, to the Ancient Greeks, to the Ancient Babylonians, to the Ancient Romans. These empires were massive on an unimaginable scale of what we have ever seen in our lifetimes. In today’s day, they would be seen as world powers. Yet, all of them failed to the point of nonexistence. They remain only in the history books. All of them have a pattern of conquer and control, yet all of them that sought to be more than they needed to be, whether greed occurred internally, or a demand for the unimaginable caused chaos and collapse for the empire. Whatever mistakes those empires made, they are long gone with no chance of revival.
These Empires were not controlled by savages or unintelligent beasts, but rather they were run by man who, for the most part, had a mission to do something, whether it was to loot for booty, expand empires, or raise taxes “for the king”, these Empires would never have gotten to where they did or been what they were had they not been run by intelligent minds. These Empires did not consist of animals or beasts who were uncivilized, but rather, of human beings trying to make a living by running businesses, trying to sell things or buy things, of brilliant minds creating and inventing things, and yet, these civilizations collapsed, and while DNA results will let many of us know that these people were our ancestors who lived in those areas, we cannot relate to any of them.
Without these civilizations, the world would not be what it is today. Something these empires had great concern for was protecting their borders from barbarians and other conquerors. It was absolute priority to protect their defenses, but constant repeated attack would leave any system drained if the issue could not be resolved. We have these empires to thank for the job they did in leading the way to our much more seemingly peaceful civilization.
Problems of the United States
When it comes to problems in the world, specifically, our own problems, the United States is no stranger to danger. The U.S. has created most of its own problems that it faces today, as it never takes time to really understand the rest of the world or its problems. When a country wants to intervene in the affairs of others around the world, they develop foreign policies for how to deal with anyone who is not them. As no institution is perfect, there are plenty of mistakes to be made, and unfortunately, those mistakes will forever affect the history of the entire world for the entire length of the existence of humanity.
Every point of U.S. history that has had a cause also brought an effect with it. Some were positive, others neutral, and plenty were negative. The results of what we see today are the results of what happened last year, the year before, a decade ago, and so on and so forth. As a superpower with a super ego (not superego), the U.S. has been responsible for causing some destruction in the world, as much as it is responsible for its own destruction, and is responsible for the world causing its own destruction on itself. When the U.S. (and by U.S., I refer to policymakers and politicians) knows what it wants and that is to establish “democracy of the free world”, it often means that country has some type of valuable item, such as oil or another trade that is a commodity.
What that alien ideology may look like in the eyes of other countries, may point us to be just as much an enemy of the country as the country may be an enemy to us. We, the U.S., have an idea of what civilization is meant to be like, but we have no idea what civilization is meant to be like in other parts of the world. In not understanding, the U.S. may believe that pushing its ideas of working a 9-5 job, paying taxes, and owning a house is what the entire world wants. The U.S. wants to bring the “1950s American Dream” to the world, but truly fails to understand much of the world, especially the enemies of the United States.
In the history of the world, we have seen that those who fail to understand their enemy are likely to fail. Fortunately for the world today, there is a whole system that acts as a backup and support to keep countries from failing. Why did so many Empires fail? The blunt truth is that they got greedy. Whether those in “control” became immoral or selfish, they failed to recognize that it is not the small elite who control the existence of an empire, but rather the majority that keep it flourishing. Whether they are rich or poor, both are allows the opportunity to prosper and become rich or choose to be poor.
When corporations are dominantly favored over people, or a group of elites are given absolute priority of control over the masses, the inevitable can only happen of the failure and collapse of the entire system. The only chance of survival for the empire to thrive is if the eco-system, made up of civilization within the empire, is given the chance for hope and fairness, and is able to experience the results.
Why do people continue to play the lottery, knowing full well, there is very little chance to win it? Because that one person who won provides hope to the masses. One person winning provides hope, while seeing one person gives that illusion of fairness. The same could be said of any civilization: If everyone believes there is a chance at surviving and thriving, there will always be hope and wealth.
Greed of Civilization
When “the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many”, civilization cannot thrive, regardless of how much money and wealth “the few has”. When one country has to exert dominance over another to simply prove itself a world power, or obtain the other country’s natural resources in a violent manner, we are no more advanced than our counterparts. Exactly as the Romans did, as Alexander the Great had done, or Cyrus the Great. “the Great” often means that while the winners were great, the ones who they won against… suffered. And while we are not going to get into an argument about how if it didn’t happen, the world would be vastly different, the fact is: it happened. The United States, over two decades ago, after it was attacked, could have influenced the world to do anything for it, and it chose to ensure its dominance was not a mission of peace, but one of war. Almost all countries followed suit, setting in stone an “us” vs. “them” mentality that remains to this day.
The “war on terrorism” that should have brought peace has only brought the start of what may be our downfall. The U.S. still fails to understand its enemies, focusing more on the profits it can make from others, including its enemies, rather than focusing on anything that remotely resembles a solution for peace. The mistakes of the modern world continue to come back to haunt everyone. Attacks in London, attacks in Madrid, attacks in Paris, attacks in Orlando, and attacks in many other parts of the world are the results of the actions of the world almost two decades ago. Where we attack one enemy, another may spring up for the that one particular enemy kept suppressed the other, while ultimately killing one, will allow the other to prosper. We are getting to see first-hand the irresponsible actions of our leaders at their finest. Yet, decades later, the same people remain in power, without anyone questioning their logical authoritative decisions for protecting the very society they were elected to protect.
As terrorist activities go, which do not solely involve Muslims, but any person who attacks another indiviudal or group of individuals can be considered a terrorist, they drive terror into the hearts of civilization and aim to destroy humanity, as they take lives and instill fear into others, ultimately causing those in power to have more power. Terrorists are white, black, of every color, Christian, Muslim, or every religion. Anyone who threatens the life of another or takes the life of another is a terrorist. Additional titles after that point are what they have always been: a murderer, a serial killer, etc. First and foremost, they are a terror-ist. The act of terror is happening far too often in the United States and in other countries. And where terrorism occurs, the group with less power continues to give the group with more power control over them.
Governments and elected officials are failing to do what they were meant to do: protect the people. When fear is instilled in people, the trust of people towards their authoritative figures lapses. Faith in a government that can prevent its people from dying due to others is lost. These are the very same worries that our ancestors had: Can I go out in public without dying or fearing that someone is going to commit a mass murder?
How long will it take for the government to step in and become serious enough to understand that while guns do kill people, the fault lies more in policies that have yet to do anything to prevent people from dying due to insane psychos with guns. How long before elected officials start to care and earn their paychecks? Not a single person in Congress has earned or deserved their paycheck in over two decades. This is not a call to change or cross out the Rights of the Second Amendment. It is simply a call to provide more research on methods and technology that can control the violence in society, as a government is tasked with doing. Unfortunately, their voting record on giving themselves raises each year might prove their false ego on how well of a job they think they are actually doing. Human violence with guns will continue to remain on the rise.
Human violence with guns is on the rise. This focuses on humans being responsible for their actions with guns and not the guns being responsible for the actions of the humans who use them. Where is the government to protect its people? Rather, lobbyists on both sides want or do not want to do away with guns, and who is going to step up? The American people know all too well, seen from our own history with the Native American Indians, just how much we can and should trust our government. Apparently not enough to let them take away our guns, and perhaps rightfully so.
When a government collects taxes and enforces laws on its people, the social contract is a symbiotic relationship in which one agrees to protect, while the other agrees to trade their labor and law-abiding nature for protection and security. When there is an issue on either side or both sides, civilization has an opportunity to collapse. When a government can no longer be trusted to do its job for the people who elected it and trusted it, that particular government is no longer necessary or relevant.
When a government turns everything into a business proposition, in which the majority of the government seems to be largely influenced by corporations and their best interests, and lobbyists are able to easily persuade our leaders with the promise of the mighty dollar, not only has our government failed us, but the people who elected their officials have failed to keep an honest and fair society.
When greed is no longer an issue, poverty will disappear, and with it, most of the world’s problems, including terrorism, unemployment, and an over unhappy and dissatisfied civilization. Until then, all countries with whom have elected officials and leaders that still continue to be on the mindset of greed and egoistic opportunities, will continue to fail and upset the natural balance of fairness that keeps civilization thriving. Once the balance of fairness is gone, the society will lose all of its chances for survival and revival.
Once the greed for power and world domination end, the world will have another chance at peace.
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